LOS ANGELES • Rivals were upset at Patrick Reed over a rules controversy after his PGA Tour victory on Sunday, with many feeling he violated the spirit of golf, if not the letter of the law.
The 30-year-old American fired a four-under 68 on Sunday at Torrey Pines to complete a five-stroke victory at the Farmers Insurance Open, well ahead of a group of five in joint-second comprising Tony Finau (69), Ryan Palmer (70), Xander Schauffele (69), Norway’s Viktor Hovland (71) and Sweden’s Henrik Norlander (69).
But his actions over an embedded ball at the par-four 10th hole in Saturday’s third round left a cloud over the triumph.
His second shot bounced and landed in the deep rough but neither Reed, his playing partners Will Gordon and Robby Shelton, and their caddies or a nearby volunteer saw the bounce that television cameras clearly showed.
The 2018 Masters winner lifted the ball, checking to see if it was embedded, then called a rules official who checked and confirmed an indention in the ground, ruled the ball embedded and allowed him a drop with no penalty.
“I think the rule is if you’re in doubt on something that’s going to give you an advantage and it’s not 100 per cent, then you kind of go the other way,” 2019 Houston Open winner Lanto Griffin said.
“So it’s tough to see, it’s sad, kind of p****s us off, but it’s the way it is. Hopefully, something changes.”
Reed said before the final round: “All I can really do is focus on today and just listen to what the rules officials said and they said that I didn’t do anything incorrect.”
And after finishing on 14-under 274, he said he had put the controversy out of his mind on Sunday once told by officials his actions were proper.
“The biggest thing is I was allowed to kind of put it behind me when the head rules official comes up and says you did everything you were supposed to do,” he added.
“When you do everything you’re supposed to do, at the end of the day, that’s all you can control.”
Social media critics accused Reed of cheating but rules officials after the round and the PGA Tour on Sunday said the world No. 10 did nothing improper.
“He did everything by the book according to the official and everyone stood by there,” said four-time PGA Tour winner Schauffele. “Obviously, the talk among the boys isn’t great, I guess, but he’s protected by the Tour and that’s all that matters, I guess.”
Four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, who was involved in his own embedded ball situation at No. 18 on Saturday and found to have acted properly, gave Reed the benefit of the doubt. “It seemed to me like it was a bit of a storm in a teacup,” the Ulsterman said.
However, in a sport where players are expected to call penalties on themselves, obeying the rules and being fair to the field can be different things.
“It’s tough,” Griffin said. “Golf’s a game of sportsmanship and it’s tough to put us in the spot to call him out because we weren’t there.
“But at the end of the day, I think 99 per cent of the golfers out here, if it’s in question one way or the other, they’re going to go the other way.”
It is not the first rules issue to hit Reed, who was penalised two strokes at the 2019 Hero World Challenge for moving sand behind his ball to improve his lie, something he said he did not see because his angle was different from that of TV cameras.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE